Down the Rabbit Hole

Broken Part 2

Soundtrack:

Kat Graham Wanna say

Roxette The Look

Caro Emerald A night like this

Sam walked back in the door a couple hours later. He placed one of the shopping bags next to a very bored looking Dean and Lacey, who'd been watching re-runs all afternoon.
"Ah, thank you." Dean said as he reached for the bag.
"Yep." Lacey got to her feet and followed him to the kitchen, before rifling through the bags to find her snacks.
"Where's Bobby, he take off?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Hey Sam, how you doing?" Dean asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Fine."
"I mean you still, you know...."
"Yeah, no, I know what you mean. Yeah I'm still seeing crap that's not real. But yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I can tell the difference."
"Think it's getting better?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I just know that I'm managing it. So don't worry."
"Where's the pie?" Dean asked just as Lacey asked; "Where's the guacamole?"
"I got cake, it's close enough, right? And there's sour cream and cheese sauce in the bag." He told them. They both gave him disapproving looks. Sam shrugged and sat down at the table to read the paper.

Lacey was sprawled out on the sofa next to Dean, the two of them fast asleep. Dean slowly woke up, feeling as if something was wrong, he sat up carefully and looked around. The cabin was empty apart from him and Lacey. Then he noticed the not on the coffee table and picked it up. He nudged Lacey awake and she blinked at him, bleary eyed and yawning.
"What's up?"
"Sam's gone."
"Gone? Gone where?"
"Back in a few days. I'm fine. Sam." He read her the not out loud.
"That's not a lot to go on."
"No it's not." Dean pulled out his phone and dialled Bobby's number, hitting the speaker phone button.
"Other shoe!" Dean grumbled as soon as Bobby picked up.
"Other who?" Bobby asked and Lacey couldn't help but giggle.
"Sam. He took off."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Nowhere good."
"Well, maybe he needed a little me-time." Bobby suggested.
"Yeah, but his me-time ain't just him. I mean for all we know he's road-tripping with Lucifer somewhere. Left me here like Jimmy friggin' Stewart."
"I assume you called."
"Straight to voicemail. He turned his GPS off too. And he took my car!" Dean growled.
"Don't panic." Bobby advised.
"Too late!"
"Look, he says he's ok, so give it a couple of days. Just 'til you get the cast off, then hunt him down. 'Til then we'll both just keep calling."
"All right." Dean agreed before hanging up. Lacey looked at the expression on his face.
"We're not waiting a couple days are we?"
"No way."
"Want me to drive?" Dean looked surprised.
"You can drive?"
"Well... sort of. I have a learners permit." Lacey shrugged. "But we have no car. You'll have to hot wire one."
"Right, that's it." Dean got to his feet and hobbled over to one of the kitchen cupboards and pulled out a large tool chest.
"What are you doing?" Lacey asked. Dean hunted through the box and pulled out an angle grinder.
"This thing is going down." Dean said as he levered his leg up onto the sofa and began to cut into the cast with the angle grinder. Lacey winced at the sight and turned away, she was sure he was going to do more damage but he managed to get the cast off quite easily.
"Are you gonna be ok to walk?" Lacey asked. Dean gingerly took a step forward putting his weight on his injured leg. It seemed to be fine so he took a couple more steps.
"Seems ok to me." He shrugged.
"Okay well don't over-do it. I'm gonna change then we better find a car." Lacey told him before heading to the back room.

Dean managed to find them a car and they started at the only place they knew for sure Sam had been, the grocery store one town over. Dean headed over to talk to the clerk behind the till while Lacey browsed the selves.
"How you doing? Uh, was there a big guy in here yesterday?"
"That's specific." The clerk gave him a look.
"I mean big, like about yea high?" Dean held his hand up above his head.
"Yeah, maybe. Uh, brown hair?"
"Yes! Yes that's him. Do you remember what he bought?"
"Snacks maybe." The clerk shrugged.
"How about a paper? Do you have yesterday's paper?"
Yeah right there." The clerk pointed to a stand below the till.
"Oh." Dean picked up the paper and began to read the front page. Lacey headed over to the till and put down a jar of guacamole and a pie.
"These, please." She smiled at the clerk.
"And this." Dean put the paper down too. The clerk rang it up and Lacey paid on her card. As they headed for the door Dean pointed to the front of the paper.
"I think I know where our next stop should be."

They headed to the local morgue and Dean explained to the attendant that they were following up on one of their colleagues work, and as he'd guessed someone matching Sam's description had been there earlier that day. The attendant took them through to the lab and showed them the body he'd shown Sam.
"This is the one he asked to see."
"Great, great. Let me ask you, did he do anything to it?"
"No, he just asked a few questions about the other vics, missing pituitary glands and so forth." Dean stared down at the body.
"Son of a bitch."

"Sam's chasin' a what?" They were back in the car later that evening, catching up Bobby on what they'd found.
"A Kitsune. It's pretty rare. Dad and I hunted one back in '98."
"Vaguely rings a bell." Bobby acknowledged.
"Yeah, didn't make our highlight reel."
"Well, least now we know he's working a job."
"Yeah, nut why pull the Houdini act?"
"Not a clue. What you gonna do when you catch up?"
"I got a few ideas."

Lacey was sitting on the edge of the bed in Sam's motel room when they heard the sound of someone outside opening the door. Dean strode forward and as soon as the door was open and he was sure it was Sam, he punched him in the face.
"Howdy, Sam." He said as Sam went flying back and landed in the herbaceous border. Sam shook his head in shock and got back to his feet.
"New rule. You steal my baby, you get punched." Dean told him as Sam walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. Lacey waved to him from the bed.
"Hey, Sam."
"The hell were you thinking, Sam, running off like that? I mean, for all I know, Satan could have been calling your plays." Sam headed to the fridge and pulled out a can of coke to hold against his bruised face.
"Dean, look, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm fine."
"Oh, yeah, no you're a poster boy for mental health. You have any idea the kind of horror shows I had going on in my head?"
"Dean, I left you a note. There was a job in town."
"A kitsune. Yeah, yeah, no I know. And you ignore Bobby and I's phone calls why, exactly?"
"Because I wanted to take care of it. And I did. I took care of it."
"Really?" Dean sounded surprised.
"Yes."
"Where's the body?"
"There is no body." Lacey looked up, confused.
"Why not?"
"Because I let her go. She's gone."
"You what?" Dean looked shocked. "Why?"

Sam told them the story of how he'd met Amy when he was doing research on a case. He'd found out that her and her mother were Kitsune and how she'd killed her mother to save him. The two of them sat there listening patiently.
"You never told me that."
"I never told anyone. I mean, can you imagine what Dad would have done?"
"You saw the article in the newspaper and you just bolted."
"It was my mess."
"And you call letting her go cleaning it up?" Dean asked.
"She killed her own Mom, Dean, to save me."
"I hear you Sam, I do. But look at her now, she's dropping bodies, man... which means we got to drop her, no matter how many merit badges she racked up when she was a kid. I'm sorry, but it's that simple."
"Nothing in our lives is simple."
"Look, man, I get it okay? You meet a girl, you feel that spark, there's nothing better. But this freak?" You could tell he regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Lacey and Sam stared at him.
"You know I've been called worse in my time, am I a freak, Dean?" Lacey asked quietly.
"No you're not, you know that, I didn't mean..."
"Yeah, you did." Sam interrupted. "Look, I see the way you look at me, Dean, like I'm a grenade and you're waiting for me to go off."
"Sam.."
"I'm not going off. Look, I might be a freak, but that's not the same as dangerous."
"I didn't say..."
"It's okay. Say it. I've spent a lot of my life trying to be normal, but come on. I'm not normal. Look at all the crap I've done, look at me now. I'm a grade A freak. But I'm managing it and so is Amy." Lacey reached out and took Sam's hand.
"Is she? How?"
"She works at a damn funeral home so she doesn't have to kill anyone, Dean. She's figured out how to deal."
"Okay, well then explain the bodies."
"She's done. Her friggin' kid was dying, Dean. Put you or me in her position, we'd probably do the same thing. Look, you don't trust her, fine. Trust me, Dean, please." Dean looked between Sam and Lacey and let out a sigh.
"Okay."
"Seriously?"
"Got to start sometime, right?" Lacey smiled back at him, happily.

The following morning Sam and Lacey left the motel room to find Dean finishing a phone conversation by the car.
"Bozeman, right, got it, thanks." He hung up in a hurry. "That was Bobby. We'll hole up in Spokane tonight. We'll meet him tomorrow. Why don't you drive?" He threw Sam the keys.
"You gonna punch me again?" Sam asked. Dean shook his head.
"I could drive?" Lacey suggested again. Sam let out a laugh and climbed into the driver's seat.
"Eh, maybe another time." Dean said as he climbed into the passenger side.
"So, in translation, that would be never." Lacey rolled her eyes and got in the back.